I have a 1991 Utica 50,000 BTU gas hydronic boiler in my basement. The expansion tank was replaced about 6 months ago. Anyhow, I am out of town for a few days and my wife was in the basement looking for something and noticed some water damage to boxes and shoes (had some mold on them already) in the vicinity of boiler. There is no standing water but there must have been a little within the last month or so. Also, the bricks that the boiler is on are damp. She said that the pressure relief valve is moist. She placed a bucket today under the pressure relief valve but yet there has not been any accumulation of water. The PSI is 20 at 180F and about 18 PSI at 100F. Do you think there is a crack in the boiler or for whatever reason the pressure relief valve released water onto the basement floor? Is it safe to use the heat for now? [url=http://postimg.org/image/ihnovz2lp/][/url] [url=http://postimg.org/image/jcmjw0hob/][/url] [url=http://postimg.org/image/3rsdp8ljr/][/url]

Hi, I am new to the forum as you can see and I have no HVAC experience. I am trying to correct the setup of my newly installed kitchen radiant heat. I have a steam boiler with a zone for heat in the basement. The original set up had a circulator, sr501 switch relay, an aquastat that only has one dial set at 160, an auto feed and a manual feed. The upstairs steam system started to have water hammer and the air valves were leaking but this was before the radiant heat was added. Because of the water hammer the contractor decided to run the new radiant heat into the basement baseboard and then use the basement baseboard return into the boiler. That set up did not work for me because I want the basement heat and the 1fl kitchen radiant heat on separate thermostats plus there was no way for me to verify the radiant heat temperature. We consulted with 3 plumbers and have been to 5 plumbing supply stores and no one can agree on how to make this work. I've been told because I have a steam boiler it won’t work, I should use my hot water heater instead, or that it would cost me around $2000 just in parts. I had one plumber come here and he said it was fine with the current setup but I know that isn’t correct because the Pex is only rated for 180 degrees and my boiler puts out more than that besides the fact that the return side was lukewarm. My research online leads me to believe the best set up for the radiant heat would be to use a circulator from the boiler to a plate heat exchanger to an expansion tank to a 3 way mixer to zone valve and another circular from the return of the radiant floor tubing. I don’t know if having another heating zone affects this set up but any suggestions are truly welcomed. You guys seem to be very knowledgeable about this stuff so I'd really appreciate your help.